


we carry the world on our shoulders

by Gothams_Only_Wolf



Category: Arthurian Mythology, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Inspired by the Sword in the Stone, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2020-03-26 10:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19004011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothams_Only_Wolf/pseuds/Gothams_Only_Wolf
Summary: The sword of the Wolf King sat for years buried near hilt deep in a rock, only for a small set of hands to find it in a moment of desperation.





	1. Sword of the Wolf King

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MaraShadowFox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaraShadowFox/gifts), [thoroughly_inktroverted](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thoroughly_inktroverted/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure about this one but I'm posting it anyways. It's also the first time I'm writing teenaged Cloud rather than the adult I normally do. The tone is a bit more formal because, well, sword-in-the-stone inspired? 
> 
> I hope you enjoy~

* * *

Fenris Strife the Mighty, he'd been called, and a better king there had never been, spoken of fondly and with great melancholy. 

A King that had left no heir in his wake. 

The country of Gaia had torn itself apart for at least three years trying to find a new king but soon subsided to old ways and even older traditions. The sword that had appeared in the center of Midgar, engraved with the words "Whomsoever pulls this sword out of the stone shall be the once and future king." caused the stir of the decade after the wars had petered out. 

Many, many knights, lords and even a General or two had tried to pull it out of the stone to no avail.

The sword of the Wolf King sat for years buried near hilt deep in a rock, only for a small set of hands to find it in a moment of desperation.

* * *

It started with the loss of Ser Vidar's sword. 

No, really, the man was incapable of holding onto a blade given to him more than an hour at most. It had been Cloud's job to keep track of them and get them back to his Knight. 

Cloud still didn't understand why he'd been left alone in a cavernous room for at least three lengths of a candle and then some.

Said room was stocked with a single large chair and the sword he'd intended to give to Ser Vidar again. With the sword settled on the chair, he padded around the room, idly noting the torn remains of a wolf-like standard. The room was full of dust so Cloud looked to see if he was being watched and then rolled up his sleeves, cracked open the massive windows and shook out the dusty standard.

It was definitely a Nibel wolf, silver and massive, and it glimmered in the faded sunlight of Midgar. Cloud swept it over his shoulders, stuck his nose into the air and started laughing to himself.

"Oh Ser Vidar's gonna be mad if I don't get him this sword..." Cloud sighed, tied the standard against his chest and picked up the sword again. It was lighter than he'd expected after that first pull from the stone, though it had seemed heavy in Ser Vidar's hands. "The tourney was supposed to start ages ago-"

The huge door at the end of the room burst open. Cloud nearly dropped the sword in his surprise but it spun in his hand, clean as anything and clicked against the harness Ser Vidar had given him out of pity. With the weight of it against his back, he was forced to stand straight or it would have toppled him over. 

He almost swallowed his tongue at the sight that greeted him, however. 

The three great Generals that had beaten the country back into shape and reversed some of the harsher laws were striding down the dusty carpet runner. Their Commander followed, a man who was known even in Cloud's backwater castle of Nibelheim to be kind and just and very much lived up to the code of chivalry some Knights only laughed at instead of taking it seriously. 

Of course, Cloud's stupid mouth had to blurt out, "I didn't steal it, I was borrowing it. It was meant for Ser Vidar and I would've put it _right back_ -" 

He slapped his own hands over his mouth, looking up to see amusement instead of anger. 

"Borrow the sword of Fenris Strife and put it back, he says, as though its possible to put the sword back once it's been pulled." General Rhapsodos scoffed. 

"It is," Cloud muttered, "because I got through pulling it the first time and they told me it was too big for the tourney." Oh dear sweet gods _bury him now_ , he was never going to live this down. "I was going to put it back but Ser Vidar needed the sword and he loses them _constantly_. I mean, I've considered just strapping a sword to his hand before but that's conduct unbecoming of a squire and—" 

The mirth that shook the Commander spilled forth, the violet eyes glowing brightly as he laughed. "You serve Ser Holly Vidar of the Nibel Reach?! Oh no wonder you got caught up in this mess." 

"'Mess?'" 

"You have the sword of the Wolf King strapped to your back and you look an awful lot like the old man." Cloud cocked his head to the side as Commander Fair continued, "Let me explain." 

So Commander Fair walked Cloud through the history of sword as the Generals stood in the background, pausing at the end to look at the standard still attached to Cloud. "Umm, please don't take this the wrong way but have you ever met your Father?" 

Cloud's lips twitched briefly into a snarl and he inhaled to keep from yelling. "My Ma raised me for six summers and told me my Father would have loved me dearly, had he but had the time to spend with us. She passed away during my seventh winter and I have been beholden to Ser Vidar and his household ever since." 

"General Hewley, if you would be so kind as to retrieve the portrait and Commander Fair, you fetch a mirror." General Crescent-Valentine ordered. The man towered over him but didn't seem to loom like Ser Mueller, nor would he taunt Cloud for such a thing. "King Fenris was smaller in his youth but commissioned the sword once he was fully grown. It's name is First Tsurugi for he had it made before he acquired his trusted steed." 

General Hewley brough forth a covered portrait and Commander Fair the mirror, both of them dusty. He flicked his fingers in a combination spell, the mirror cleaned before it was set down on the flagstones. 

Cloud had dirt smudged on one cheek, his squire uniform half obscured by the standard and the sword at his shoulder with the handle much higher than his hand could reach. Blond hair that he hacked at with a hunting knife if it got too long, blue eyes that he'd gotten from his Ma and a body still too small for even the smallest uniform. 

Next to the Generals... Well, the comparison was embarrassing to say the least. 

"This was King Fenris, roughly at your age." General Hewley explained, dark blue eyes soft as he removed the cover. "We thought he'd never taken a wife but the Nibel Reach is far traveling and not for those faint of heart." 

The boy in the frame, the one they said was Fenris Strife, looked like Cloud with light green eyes in place of blue. Cloud hesitated and then reached out to trace the familiar features, an ache in his chest that seemed his heart was stretched too full. 

"I might be his child but... I'm no king. Nepotism does not a king make, as Ma used to say. I'm not who you're looking for and I'm sorry but I'm gonna to put it back." Cloud said and pulled his hand away from the portrait. 

"You're not even going to try?" General Rhapsodos demanded, looking at his companions and then at Cloud himself. 

"I..." Cloud pulled the sword off of his back, looked at the portrait and then back at the only thing he had of his father's. "I don't even know how to run a country." 

"Hmm. Do you not run errands as Ser Vidar's squire?" General Cresent-Valentine prodded. 

"Of course I do but it's... It's simple stuff. Do the laundry, repair and or replace an armful of swords and armor and make sure that he hasn't lost his helmet too. It's nothing _close_ -" 

"Does this often include the handling of money?" General Hewley asked. 

"Only when I can't find the sword or repair the armor myself and very little at that-" 

"Then you at least know finance. And how to be kind to those who wash your clothes." General Rhapsodos pointed out. 

"Plus you know general castle cleaning because you cleaned that mirror with a combination house spell." Commander Fair chirruped. 

Cloud looked between the four of them and frowned. "Well, if I'm staying, _someone_ ought to tell poor Ser Vidar that he's not getting his squire **or** his sword back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	2. Small Mercies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm flying by the seat of my pants but I hope you enjoy!

* * *

"We've coaxed you into staying and we don't even know your _name_! Mine's Zack. Well _properly_ , it's Ser Zachary Fair of Gongaga Jungle, Commander of Gongaga Cavalry." Commander Fair—No, Zack—introduced himself, shaking Cloud's hand and nearly jogging him out of where he was standing. "Oh, sorry." 

"It's, uh, it's Cloud. Cloud Strife of the Nibel Reach and Castle Nibelheim, I guess?" 

"You've no epithet yet, so you'd-" 

"Actually, he kinda does, Gen—The once and future king. Says so on that big ol' rock he pulled First Tsurugi from." Zack countered. 

Cloud got the feeling that General Rhapsodos didn't like him very much and decided he'd be upfront with all of them. 

Ma had told him that it was best to be honest and kind but most of all, not a coward. "You insisted I stay and yet wish me no good fortune, General Rhapsodos?" 

The General opened his mouth, raised a gloved finger and then promptly shut it, voicing something Cloud found surprising. "I suppose it would seem that way, wouldn't it? We've some years without a king or a court and yet still the manners of the past cling. My apologies, King Strife, but I fear we all are very much out of our depths." 

Cloud mulled it over and shrugged. "I guess we'll have to learn each other then, huh?" 

"Your Majesty, if I may?" General Hewley and the one who had taken Zack under his wing. 

He pulled a face at that. "Just between us, I think I'd like to be just plain ol' Cloud. I'll have too many 'Your Majesties' in my future than I'll ever want to hear." 

"Cloud, then, for sure. I'm Angeal. Where would you start doing things, if you had the power to enact them?" Angeal inquired, the surety of his broad shoulders a comfort to Cloud. 

If nothing else, he hoped he could count on the four other people in this room. 

"Well, I think the castle needs a good cleaning-" 

"Politics, Cloud." 

"I know enough that I need to see what alliances my Father kept and that I need to get this castle back up and running. I'm also tired, this sword needs a harness so that it isn't put together until I can handle all of it and that I need-" Cloud's stomach made a rather embarrassing noise, "food because I'm a growing boy. How about we start from there and work our way up?" 

"Sounds like a plan to me." Zack agreed as he slung an arm around Cloud's shoulders.

* * *

Cloud'd done his best for about a week now, which was apparently more than most people expected of someone they viewed as a 'boy king.' He also irritated the nobles out of thier castles and into Midgar's own by merely existing. Nearly all of them showed up as Cloud finalized a Ward on the castle through the use of lode stone Materia. 

"You?!" Ser Mueller barked derisively, riding high and cocky on his prized black Chocobo. 

"Hi Jax~" Cloud crooned at the massive war bird, ignoring his rider out of sheer stubborness. The Chocobo glanced back at the knight riding him, made his choice and then waltzed right through the Ward. Ser Mueller slammed into the Ward and slid down it with an impressively long squeak. 

Cloud may or may not have giggled as he stroked Jax's long facial feathers. "What a good boy! Here, have some nice Mimetts." 

"His Majesty is currently busy renovating the Castle to her former glory. If you've business with King Strife, the Once and Future King, please form a line." General Sephiroth stated with a voice that had boomed on battlefields past. 

The nobles shuffled at that, armor creaking as Chocobos warked or crooned to one another. 

"If I may, General, when is His Majesty's coronation?" Ser Vidar asked, bowing to Cloud with a small smile tugging at his lips. "I would see him, see to him and ask if he needs any help with renovations that we might see him resplendent upon the throne." 

"That would be up to His Majesty, of course." Angeal replied as he repaired the last of the moat and water came flooding in from the gate Zack pulled inside the castle. 

"Ser Vidar and his entourage are welcome within the halls of Castle Strife," Cloud hummed, scritching under Jax's beak. "even Ser Mueller." Ser Mueller lunged for him and then cowered into the dirt as the sword of the Wolf King responded to the threat against Cloud; namely by pointing all seven blades at him. "The sword will not stand for attacks against my person." 

"Nor will the Kingsguard, Ser Mueller." Genesis mentioned with fire-wrapped fury as he strode out of the castle in full armor. "You acted in a haste that borders on treasonous."

"He is but-" 

"Your King, so by all means choose your next words wisely." General Sephiroth snarled coldly, "Your King by the act of having pulled First Tsurugi from the stone in whence it was buried yonder." The finger pointed steadily at the cleaned stone, at the inscription Cloud had scrubbed at most of the morning so that it gleamed. 

Ser Mueller looked into unkind faces and turned to Cloud, whose expression matched. "Gods have mercy, o King!" 

Cloud looked at the Knight that had been cruel where others had been kind. "Mercy I once asked from you, Ser Mueller, a small mercy to bury my Mother on your lands so that I might serve your House to the best of my abilities. A mercy that was written into the Code you once swore to uphold; a mercy you did not grant." 

Ser Vidar turned from Ser Mueller and said quietly, "This I did not know and so heaped upon him honors, Your Majesty. I renounce them now as I renounce his actions against you, King Strife." 

"As do I, Your Majesty, and note that Ser Mueller has said only O King and did not claim you as his own just ruler." Lady Lockhart replied, astride a solid mountain Chocobo in blue. 

He didn't want to start his days as a King with blood on his sword. 

Cloud also knew that he couldn't allow Mueller to go unpunished for the way he had broken the Code. "Mercy Ser Mueller has asked of only _a_ King, not his own. He is Ser Mueller no longer, not of the country of Gaia, though he may keep yet all that he carries on his person. His lands are no longer his lands, nor his serfs his own, save those that show true loyalty to him. He is but Mueller here, a free folk and self personaged but no longer one of us. Might I have a volunteer to escort him to the border?" 

The Lords scrambled over themselves volunteering but Cloud picked Ser Selkirk, a woman he knew to follow the Code to a T. "I will escort him to the border nearest the Kingdom of Corel, Your Majesty. I will allow the use of one of my Chocobos for him, that we may travel swiftly." 

"I look forward to your safe return, Ser Selkirk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	3. Lavender's Green and The Crimson King

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in full on Adulting Mode so comments will be loved and appreciated! 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Most of the nobles disappeared with an awful hurry after that, muttering something about the Code and cleaning house. 

Cloud cleared out a box to put Jax in, the massive Chocobo content to graze at greens and nuzzle him on occasion while he worked. 

A brilliant red carriage drawn by four pure white Chocobos rolled up to the Ward, the ornate designs new to Cloud. The entourage that pulled up behind it was just as ornate but with pack Chocobos instead in a shade of olive green. 

Sephiroth put his hand on Masamune, his expression unwelcoming in all manner of the word. The party halted and a foot alighted, only to have a pillow placed under it by a scurrying servant and a red tarp placed after it so that the person dismounting the carriage wouldn't touch the ground. 

"Your Majesty, may I present His Imperial Highness Prince Godo Kisaragi, Heir Presumptive of the Imperial House of Leviathan." Sephiroth introduced him to one of the highest royal households of Wutai, stiffly translating as their interpreter had been waylaid by a monster some weeks back. 

Cloud waited for the Ward to do the same it had to Ser Mueller but the damn thing seemed confident that the ruler of another country entirely was perfectly safe. At least the man wasn't going to kill him just for being King. 

They led the way to the West Wing, the one that had been cleared out only a day before and settled to talk in private on recently dusted chaise lounges. 

"I welcome him to Castle Strife but warn that only the West Wing is currently suitable for moderate comfort. The suite we have chosen for him will be heated and cooled according to his directions at the castle Materia. Does he know how they work?" Cloud questioned, aware that he looked nothing like the King he was supposed to look like. 

Dirt streaked one side of his face and he had a dust mask hanging about his neck, having thought to tackle the East Wing before Ser Vidar and the nobles had shown up. The Castle was in no way even close to receiving visitors but Cloud hated being rude to guests, even those who invited themselves into his home. 

Sephiroth sighed, translated and received a confirming nod from Godo himself. "He states that though the castle is in... ill-repair, he appreciates the effort you're going through to keep him in moderate comfort. He also asks after your Father, whom he knew in his youth." 

Cloud considered his next words carefully, hoping that they would suit. "My Father passed some time ago, though I am sure you were firm friends for the physical distance between you. I would renew relations with the island nation of Wutai with the terms therein renegotiated if it suits His Imperial Majesty." 

"Prince Godo says he expects nothing less of the son of Fenris." Sephiroth relayed in surprise. "Terms are to be renegotiated often, lest the sword of the mind go dull. He... compliments your features and wishes to hear of your Mother, from whom you must have inherited great beauty." 

Cloud inhaled and then replied, "Ma was beautiful. She disppointed many a man the day she chose my Father and lost not an ounce of it until her untimely death, though sickness drove her thin." 

Prince Godo's peaceful mask cracked at that, sympathy clear on his face as Sephiroth translated. 

"Prince Godo apologizes for prodding at old wounds not yet scarred. He would... He would offer up a position within his own family, so that you may have one to claim. An adopted Son of Wutai, though Gaia is acknowledged as your immense province and not of Wutai's lands." Sephiroth admitted carefully. "It's not an offer made lightly." 

"I'll... I'll think it over. It's not a refusal but I need time to, um, process it." Cloud replied as he stood up. "For now, I hope he has as much comfort as can be wrung from his suite." 

Cloud closed the door gently, slid down the wall next to it, set aside his sword and exhaled with a shaking breath. 

Sephiroth followed and sat next to him, double tapped the door frame for the privacy Materia placed in it as he buried himself in the offered hug. "I'm sorry that you were forced to diplomatically speak about your parents like that." 

Cloud sniffed and then muttered, "This is a lot harder than Genesis implied it would be." 

"We did coax you into this." Sephiroth offered dryly as he curled around Cloud, chin pillowed in Cloud's spikes. "It means you may lean on us in times of hardship." 

"Does this count?" He prodded with a watery laugh. 

"Mmhmm." 

" _Oh, ok- **ay**_." With that, Cloud's voice cracked and he buried his face against his General's shoulder, the tension he'd carried with him since the first day melting away as he cried.

* * *

As his sniffles slowed and then stopped, a kerchief appeared in front of his nose. Angeal then, thoughtful as he'd been in the past week. He blew his nose and absently flicked the material clean as Angeal wiped away his tears with a second kerchief. He blinked at the rich red color, looked up and saw a sympathetic Genesis as well as Zack. 

Zack offered the flatbread they'd managed to coax from Midgar's best baker by giving him the run of the castle's immense kitchen. Cloud tore it up and handed back four pieces, keeping the last piece for himself within the shelter of Sephiroth's embrace. 

"Okay, new plan, no dignitaries until at least six months out after Prince Godo leaves." Genesis suggested as he motioned with his flatbread in the castle's corridor. "And a designated breakdown room." 

"... Am I so weak?" Cloud asked after swallowing his mouthful. 

"No, Cloud, but you are only _human_." Sephiroth countered after swallowing his own bite. He hadn't missed that all of them had waited until he'd taken a bite. 

Cloud chewed on his bread, looked at his advisors and then muttered, "You're all Fae, aren't you? Or at least half." 

"He caught on quicker than Fen did, I'll give him that." Zack chuckled. "Only Seph, though thanks to proximity and the magic that binds us, we're human with that little bit of extra." 

"Huh. Is Ser Vidar still here?" Cloud wouldn't ask about it because he got the feeling that everyone else they'd mentioned it to had, in fact, asked like it was their business. 

"He's organized his household into cleaning out the rest of the stables and the courtyard. Damn good at it too." Genesis remarked with a shrug. 

"Guess I'll have to assign a new Knight to the Nibel Reach then. I'm hoping I can coax him into staying as my seneschal." 

Sephiroth chuckled from where he was still wrapped around Cloud, "No sword in sight and he hopefully won't need one for the rest of his life." 

"That's the idea, anyway." He hummed, reluctant just yet to face the world with tear-tracks cutting through the dust on his face and neck. 

Zack gave him a soft smile and Cloud guessed that his reluctance had been taken as it was. "Well, I'll go tell Ser Vidar he's staying. Gen, 'Geal, you mind tackling the East Wing with some of Vidar's household?" 

After the three had left, Cloud let out a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. 

"There will be many such moments, Cloud, but the opportunity to recover rarely occurs." Sephiroth murmured, "You are not weak, but you are still young and there is much change ahead that you will face with us by your side. Fenrir died because we did not support him." 

"Did he die with the sword in hand?" 

"He did-" 

"Then he made his choice, Sephiroth, same as I am now. I just... I need this. I'll get back up and be the Once and Future King but right now... Here is where I'd like to stay, only for a little while." Cloud snuggled back under Sephiroth's chin, knowing he was perfectly safe. 

Sephiroth let them sit for a few moments before he began humming a song Cloud knew and knew well. 

"How do you know that song?" 

"I grew up in the Nibel Reach, many years ago. The song has... always been popular* for those who are not exactly..." 

"Normal? Yeah, Ma said as much." 

"Would you like to sing it together? It's much better with a partner." 

"Yes," Cloud replied, "yes I do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.
> 
> *The song is Lavender's Green


	4. Round Table

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know those moments when you picked at sweater fluffs for too long and now you've got a handful and nowhere to put it? That's me with this chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Faintly humming snatches of the Nibel song for comfort, Cloud dove back into clearing the rest of the castle in order to make it neat enough for a dinner with a dignitary. 

"Umm, I don't... I don't own anything that..." 

"Check Fen's closet to the left?" Zack called back, adjusting his Kingsguard armor. 

Cloud flicked through the clothing, happy to be clean after a long day, the grime of the old castle scrubbed from beneath his nails. He looked at a red one, grimaced at the drape of it and then held it up to a considering set of Generals and Zack. Three more outfits followed, the styles at least a decade out of current courtly fashion.

"No, no, no." Genesis clucked his tongue and then grinned. "Give me the black outfit in the corner. I'll get it back to you in a moment." 

There was a rip of cloth, cursing following as Genesis also asked for a needle and thread. Cloud was presented with an outfit much more suited to a dinner with an Imperial Prince when Genesis finished with the garment. 

Most of the left sleeve had been pinned to his shoulder so that the sleeve only came to his wrist but artfully gathered so that it looked deliberate. The right sleeve was missing entirely because it had been fabricated into a cape on his left side. The high collar had been split enough that Cloud could breathe with ease. A Strife pauldron had been strapped to him to pull it all together along with new pants in black (borrowed from another squire, who'd handed them over to Cloud with an awed expression). 

Cloud kept his boots but Zack had carefully shined them up while Genesis worked his sewing magic on the old outfit. 

"Not bad, Cloud, not bad at all." Angeal complimented as Cloud tried to brush his hair down into something cleaner. "No, no, come here please with the trimming scissors Ser Vidar gave you. Zack, give me that ratty standard." 

Angeal carefully snipped and then gently twisted his hair tips into something a little more tamed. The standard took the brunt of the haircut and then Cloud was brushed down. 

Genesis hummed, Angeal frowned and Zack dug for something in the still dusty corners, coming back with a crown that glimmered even in its dusty cage. "This is what you're missing." 

Zack gave it a good wipedown, showing it to Cloud with a companionable nudge. Cloud leaned into it and then all four of them were putting it on his head. 

The beautiful circlet of running Nibel wolves almost blended in with his styled hair but not quite, flashes of silver peeking out and he looked like he belonged in the general vicinity of his Kingsguard now.

Angeal let out a low whistle and nodded in approval. "We're getting somewhere at least; we look like we're from the same Court, if nothing else." 

"Excuse you, I think we look fabulous," Genesis countered with a haughty sniff that broke into laughter. "Well, Seph, do we?" 

"We look like we belong as Kingsguard to our rightful King." Sephiroth murmured and the moment sobered a little. 

"Cloud?" 

"I..." He backed away from the mirror a bit, tilted his head and said, "I think I need a flower." 

"What kind?" Zack prodded. 

"Lilies, but I'm not sure why." The sword thrummed at his back, having been put into the harness made by Cloud in candlelight. 

"White, red...?" Angeal prompted gently. 

"White and yellow." 

Sephiroth held his hands together, green light glowing between his fingers before a white lily was pressed into Cloud's hands. "I cannot grow many things but lilies are amongst the few I can." 

Cloud's tongue stuck out as he wove the still glowing flower through the wolves and tucked the end behind his ear. "Now we can go." 

He held his left hand out and Sephiroth's matched his, the lanky fingers a great comfort as he walked to meet Godo on slightly more even ground.

* * *

The dinner was set at an obscenely long table that Cloud immediately resented. 

He ignored the long table, ignored his fancy outfit and his fancy guest and was about to dig out a smaller table when Ser Vidar did it for him. 

"Ask, Your Majesty, that we may get it for you." Ser Vidar half-chided, half-instructed. "That _is_ what we're here for, Sire." 

"I'd like that table, please, that we may all be on better ground." The rounded edge was sticking out of the debris, something that had caught his eye. When it was set up, even Imperial Prince Godo looked impressed by his logic when he pointed out. "I'm also fifteen and small so that other table would eat me." 

Prince Godo cleared his throat and murmured slowly, "I thought I would find a King experienced in the ways of War, when I set out." 

"Instead you find a King who has not been King for very long, not yet experienced in the art of politically lying and full of country sense instead of courtly deception." Cloud finished wryly. "In short, you were expecting my Father and got me. Are you disappointed?" 

Prince Godo snorted, "Disappointed? No. Intrigued? Yes. I would appreciate more of your sense in Wutai, where every word must be a tangled web." 

"I take it plain speech is, uh, not taken well?" Cloud offered as Godo's servant and Ser Vidar pulled out their chairs to seat them first. 

"You'd find it tedious, if all someone spoke about were dragons and flowers only to mean the people of the Imperial Court." Prince Godo's mirth was clear even as his servant glanced between them with wide eyed but quickly covered surprise. "You don't seem surprised at my knowledge of Common." 

"You admitted to being in contact with my Father; why be friends if neither of you knew the other's language?" Cloud questioned as soup was set down in front of him. 

He lifted his spoon, tilted it to acknowledge the Libra cast by Genesis and spooned up his first mouthful, waiting for the soothing gold to change colors. It didn't so he started eating. 

"You trust your servants that much?" Prince Godo inquired lowly. 

"My Kingsguard," Cloud countered. "They swore separate and entirely confidential Oaths to me the day I was made King. They've taught me quite a bit about the day-to-day of a royal personage." 

"... You were not already here at Castle Strife?" 

"No, because the week after he died everyone thought he hadn't left an Heir behind." Cloud managed as delicately as possible. 

"The rumors of a Great War brewing here were true then. So how do you fit in?" 

"Well, it's a rather long story. Are you sure to you want to hear it?" Cloud replied with a raised brow. 

"If it has anything to do with the sword you keep strapped to your person, I would agree to such a tale. No monarch normally wears weaponry to a diplomatic dinner, after all." Prince Godo mentioned as the second course was served. 

"... You have a point, Imperial Prince Godo. I'll tell you after dessert."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	5. Country Sense vs Courtly Intrigue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahaha! You all thought I left this but no, merely delayed by family vacaying it with us. 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Imperial Prince Godo sat back in his chair, a long and thoughtful pause occurring after the tale Cloud had woven about Ser Vidar and the sword. 

"The sword will come with you, no matter where you go?" 

"I've even ridden some distance from the Castle but she always comes. So, better to keep her at my side and at the ready rather than attempt to coax a magical sword into leaving me alone at any other time than bed and well... privvy things." Cloud admitted flat out. 

Prince Godo cleared his throat and hid his face with a wide, heavily-embroidered sleeve for a moment. "What does she do when you sleep?" 

"Guard me." The sword fanned out in a semi-menacing display and Cloud huffed as he tapped one of the blades to get her to relax. "She's defensive. Someone has already tried to hurt me." 

"A magical sword and a kingdom isn't a bad trade." The Imperial Prince mentioned. 

"Well, when you put it like that, I suppose not but the freedom of being a nobody might still be attractive." Cloud joked, tugging briefly at the high collar of his outfit. "Especially to someone who might try escaping Imperial marriage." 

"How dare-" the translator puffed up from his chaise, indignant on Prince Godo's behalf. He waved it off, watching Godo's impassive expression with one of his own. 

"The Ward may like you and the sword not suspicious but such a journey to visit an 'old friend' can only mean you're running or pursuing something. If you'd been on the hunt, you would've refused my hospitality, as poor as it has been." 

Imperial Prince Godo muttered something in Wutainese and Sephiroth offered wryly under his breath, "I wish, perhaps, that your country sense was less sharp than courtly deception." 

"Have you even met this poor lady yet?" Cloud blurted, shocked at the thought of never at least meeting his chosen spouse. 

"I... have." 

"And, Prince Godo? What terrible things did she say or do to drive you away?" He prodded. 

"A moment, please? He has his sword." Imperial Prince Godo asked and Sephiroth begrudgingly allowed. After the blissful wash of security Materia flared over them, the man slumped in his chair. "She was glorious, Strife, and a better wife I could not have asked the universe to fashion." 

"Why'd you run?" He questioned. 

"I would have lost myself in her." 

"Then get lost," Cloud told him. "and find yourself again. Change isn't always bad, Prince Godo." 

"Is it really so simple?" 

"Sometimes it really is." 

"Whomever raised such sound advise should be given a medal." Prince Godo murmured. 

"Ma would've refused and Ser Vidar would tell you he can't accept a medal from a foreign leader, only his own." Cloud admitted, his tone just shy of fond rememberance. "They never were too enamored of fancy things, the people who raised me." 

"Then I shall burn some incense in her honor and his." 

"... That they wouldn't mind."

* * *

Prince Godo gave him a bow before the entourage left. It shocked the Wutainese staff into stunned silence but Cloud only shook his head, raised the Imperial Prince back up and hugged him. 

"No ruler should bow to another. We are equal, in the ways that matter, and as such, we are worthy of equal respect. Bring her by, won't you?" Cloud teased in the close space, a sparkle of mischief. Prince Godo snorted a laugh against the collar of his red outfit, similar to the black after Genesis insisted that he have a style if nothing else. 

"I will, Wolf King." Godo did his own teasing. Cloud stuck his tongue out and then snapped it back in at Genesis's narrowed gaze. Equal or not, kings and princes weren't immature. 

The red carriage with its Imperial Chocobos took off, floating white down the only trace that they'd existed. Cloud blew out a breath, tugged at his outfit with a face more befitting a toddler and then stripped out of it with a speed that not even Genesis could spot. 

"Throw that on the ground and I'll sentence you to a million and one push-ups, Your Majesty." Genesis growled, his gaze promising a great many things but death wasn't one of them. "Hand it over and you can get back to doing whatever it is your Kingly mind has set itself to today." 

Cloud tossed it up, tugged on his old squire outfit and then dodged the tackle of his Kingsguard with plenty of practice. 

He'd listen when it counted, not when they still had a castle to clean.

* * *

He and his Kingsguard cleared the castle top to bottom; repairing even the dungeons. Anything Cloud could crawl through as a scrawny fifteen year old kid, they fixed immediately. At least they wouldn't fall to a siege brought about by a smaller enemy, Cloud thought ruefully as Angeal gently cleaned his face and offered him food in the same breath. 

Sephiroth was a staunch presence, Zack his enthusiastic counterpart as Genesis switched between Kingsguard and Valet, too picky to let Ser Vidar do it. 

"Gen?" He murmured after he swallowed his mouthful of filled flatbread. "Why're you so concerned about my sense of style? I'm still fixing things." 

Genesis blinked at that, raised his glowing blue eyes to the ceiling, seeming to look for an unnatural patience from the gods. "Because, Strife, once you're done with the castle, you need to rule and _look the part whilst doing so_." 

Huh. "Oh okay. Style away then, I guess. Sorry about tossing the shirts." Cloud hummed as he leaned back against Sephiroth. 

"Could you stop hogging Seph, while you're at it?" Genesis snipped and suddenly it clicked for Cloud. His Kingsguard was _jealous_ about the attention he paid to the other three. He held out his hand to Genesis, which caused the man to narrow his eyes. "What?" 

"Come here please?" 

"Why I _never_ -" 

"Gen." He said quietly but a demand nonetheless. "Now." 

Genesis took his hand and then practically draped himself over Cloud. "Godo was right; too much country sense, not enough intrigue." 

"I have enough sense to know when someone wants attention. You're worse than the barn cats." Cloud huffed out as he tucked his head under Gen's chin. "Really, you are." 

Perhaps they'd spent too much time together—Zack and Angeal both used his thighs as pillows, all of them somewhat smudged by castle dust and old soot. 

"Barn cats? Yeah, Gen's a cat alright." 

"Says the Puppy," Genesis countered, the tiniest sound of muffled laughter tickling Cloud's crown. 

"Does that make me the loyal hound then?" Angeal offered wryly. 

"Only if it makes me the tamed Cuahl." Sephiroth said languidly, somehow sprawled under their combined weight and not even shaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	6. Of Paths, Both Renewed and Reforged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh, what the heck the year's half over already?! 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Once the castle was finished, Genesis had him measured by the tailors of nobles, bickered with them and kept, in the end, only one. 

"I am called Reeve Tuesti, Your Majesty. Do you have a preference?" 

"One sleeve on the left side, a half cape on the same. Both must be able to stay on during dancing but tear away if grabbed too hard. Can you do it?" 

"A challenge, Your Majesty, but... not impossible." Oh, he liked this one already. "Any color preferences? Fabric choices?" 

"Similar to my Kingsguard, I think. Burgundy, navy blue, black. The Strife family crest, if you can manage it. Ah, umm, a few green ones, I think, just for a little more color. Gold... I'm not sure if it suits my coloring the way it did my Father's." 

"Silver is better, Your Majesty, gold will wash you out. Pale you may be but sallow you are not, Sire." 

"I thought so... Tuesti, was it? You're not given to delusions of granduer?" Cloud prodded, thinking as he watched Tuesti not flinch under Genesis's hard stare. 

"No Sire." He sounded offended by the very thought of it. Hmm. 

"How unusual would it be to elevate my tailor's status?" Cloud inquired of Angeal. The man nearly choked and Cloud had his answer. "Too much too soon, I see. Would you object to being raised in status?" 

Tuesti blinked, opened his mouth and then murmured, "Yes, Your Majesty." 

"How long should I wait?" 

"Your Majesty?" 

"Until you'd be willing to think about it?" 

"A few years, Sire, and more than one, if you wouldn't mind, Your Majesty." Tuesti managed to get out before he flushed. "You are too kind, Your Majesty." 

"No, what I _need_ is more sense. You have it, and tact, in spades aplenty. And for the love of Odin, please stop 'Your Majesty'ing me. My name's Cloud. Come on. Say it with me, _Cloud_." He sighed. 

"A-Are you sure that's wise, Sire?" Tuesti responded. 

Cloud prayed to Fenrir that his patience was enough. "I suppose Sire works too. Now, let me see those designs-Are those seige engines?" He crooned, "Oh, those are good. Who taught you, Tuesti?" 

"Ah, it's just Reeve, Sire." 

"Nope, until you call me Cloud, all you're getting is your last name." Cloud announced with a bit of spite. "So?" 

"I was taught by no-one, Sire. They come to me, they come when I am in places where I cannot reach my charcoal, where I forge-" 

"You're not just a tailor." He _knew_ he'd spotted a good one; Cloud's intuition had never lied, after all. 

"Mechanist, blacksmith and I follow the Corellian medicine practices, Sire. Am I... Am I in trouble?" Tuesti asked with visible hesitance. 

"The farthest thing from it, Tuesti. How do you feel about being a Squire for Ser Vidar?" Cloud questioned. "I'm no fool; to let you slip through my fingers would be a true loss." 

"Squire, Sire? I barely-" 

"Know complex designs, both cloth and weaponry. A sharp mind you keep hidden. I was a Squire. It's barely a step up off the ground but it is a step I can take to get you where I'd like you to stay." He argued, gently flipping the pages of Tuesti's hand bound book. "Peace is fragile, built on the back of one person. Build it like a castle, however, and it outlasts its former occupants. I don't want Gaia to fall back into the old ways again should I pass on without an heir, natural born or adopted." 

"You're wise, Sire, wiser than most Lords I come across for all that you're barely past fifteen summers. Truly you belong on our Throne, my King." 

"'My King?'" Cloud encouraged, curious at the way Tuesti gripped a thing about his neck. 

"The Tuesti's used to serve your Father, Sire. He was our King, as you will be mine." Tuesti admitted openly. "We served as his siege masters, his tacticians when his advisors had run out of ideas about defense. We were his hand, Sire, guiding only when necessary." 

"Good. So you'll be a Squire?" 

"If that is your wish, Your-" 

"Cloud or Sire, Tuesti, no inbetween. I'm 'Your Majesty'ed quite enough by those two even though I told them to call me Cloud." Cloud pouted at Angeal and Genesis, neither of whom was looking at him. "You see what I have to deal with?" 

"Yes, Sire." The tiny smile that accompanied this reply made Cloud grin.

* * *

Ser Selkirk bowed to Cloud, covered as he was in leather soap, arguing with his sword about how the harness should be placed. "I'm telling you I'm too small for it to be placed there right now, Tsurugi—Ah, hello Ser Selkirk." 

He turned to wag a finger at his sword, which had bristled into a semi-defensive position. "Behave. I take it Mueller's been escorted to Corel?" 

"He has, Your Majesty. Have I done something wrong, Your Majesty?" 

"Ignore her, she gets grumpy when our time together gets interrupted. Tsurugi, stop-Ah. She wants your opinion. Should the harness for her go here," Cloud placed it lower, "or here?" then higher. 

"Higher, Sire. She'll drag tips if she's any lower on you, Your Majesty." 

"See? Oh don't wilt like that, you knew I was right in the first place." He chided Tsurugi, the magical sword sheathing herself with a disappointed rattle. "I'm too little for you to be sitting at my hips just yet. Probably never, the way my Ma was built. Wasn't he as small once?" 

The sword shuffled, slid even further down and her tips did drag. 

"Even smaller than His Majesty?!" Ser Selkirk murmured in surprise. "Well then, I suppose your Father was quite adept at wielding her." 

The sidewinders shifted and Cloud chuckled, "Only two pieces of her for a good, long time it seems. Where is your home, Ser Selkirk?" 

"I've no fief, Your Majesty, only my war birds and my armor. I was squire to Lord Lockhart." 

"If you had to pick between Mueller's and Vidar's, which would you choose?" 

"... Mueller's, Sire. Ser Vidar is noble and I would not seek... Are you saying he's here, Sire? Under official Crown business?" Selkirk inquired. 

"He's my seneschal now. I've a need for a good warrior to watch his home. Is your answer still the same?" Cloud gently asked. 

"Still I would answer Mueller, Sire, and, if she not be stepping out of bounds, ask that Ser Vidar choose his successor." Ser Selkirk admitted, a curly strand escaping her pinned coif. 

Cloud hummed in thought, mulled it over and then nodded, "Then Mueller's former fief you should have, Ser Selkirk, and a wise course of action you've suggested. Fear not, my knight. I am still learning and advice offered in full faith should never be cast aside for pride." 

"I shall dispatch, if it please you, Sire." 

"I'd like you to rest. I'll send a messenger in your stead. Is that alright with you?" He countered softly, noticing her sway. "At least a sennight; Corel is a long travel and the Reach even longer." 

"Aye, Your Majesty." 

"Rest and recover. If you could do me a favor? Ask Ser Vidar what he wants done with his lands." Cloud ordered. 

"Aye, Your Majesty." She gave a cheery salute and a short bow before turning on her heel to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


	7. Dearest Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time, no see, NOT DED. Just new routine and college! 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

He sank into the bath, steam rising off the glowing water, sighing as he sloshed the Materia chips in the tub. "Do I _really_ need to be guarded in the private baths?" 

"Yes, Your Majesty, you really do. Mueller was only one of the many that may attack you to take your place." Angeal replied succinctly. 

"Angeal, please, just Cloud. We cleaned this castle top to bottom together, slept on the same mattress and its now that you're getting uncomfortable with me?" Cloud pointed out. 

"It's different now—"

"No it isn't."

Angeal's shoulders dropped and Sephiroth chuckled, "He's got you there, 'Geal." 

"Oh don't you start, Messer "Silver General"," Angeal sniped back, adjusting the Buster in order to do something with his hands. 

"Gentlemen," Cloud's quiet intercedence was enough for them to turn to him with sheepish expressions. "Serious question, Angeal; why is it different to you?" 

Blue blinked and pink lips turned to a thoughtful moue. "... That's how you're supposed to be, how we've always been when royalty embraces their status."

"Even my Dad?" 

"Your Father bent the rules enough that we figured we could get away with it, I suppose." Zack replied as he kept a lookout on the bath's high overhang. "You're saying that it's the same with you?" 

"You've all been staunch supporters since my first day. Why would it _change_?" Cloud blurted out of sheer bewilderment. 

"Not every ruler has been so generous, _Cloud_." Genesis laced his name with cool dismissal before he knelt next to the bath and sighed. "So too must we learn you, as you pointed out. No king is ever his predecessor nor his successor. I'm sorry." 

"You're forgiven," he hummed with a teasing grin, "but **now** you have to scrub my hair." 

"Then scrub I shall, Cloud, and endeavour to call you such in the future." 

Cloud leaned back into the massaging fingers with his eyes closed, happy to at least have his Kingsguard calling him by his name.

* * *

Cloud tackled his Father's study last, the room in pristine condition aside from the dust that lingered there. 

He cracked open the windows, dusted every surface until he sneezed and then settled in to sort through the parchment left behind in the desk. 

When he came to a lock that was clearly a lock but had no key, he called Sephiroth over. 

"Ah. That would be the lock that was designed for the blood of the once and future king." 

"Blood? Really?" 

"Magic has a price when it's personal." came the quiet counter. 

"Even yours?" 

"Especially mine," Sephiroth admitted wryly. "You won't pry but you'll make observations to see if they're true." 

"Ma always did ask the pointed questions when people tried to ask her for things she wasn't interested in giving." 

"... Such as?" 

"Herself, her land, me—on a few occassions. Loyal to a fault, she was, and to one that had loved her back, from her stories of him." 

"He never strayed after the Reaches, if it helps any? Fenris said he'd found true worth in the mountains and swore to return." Sephiroth mused as Cloud nicked his finger on the letter opener and pressed it to the not-a-lock. 

A door opened and letters poured out, half in his Ma's spindly scratch, half in one that he'd only seen in the family book he carried everywhere. 

Cloud sank down to the floor and sorted them with shaking hands. He opened one in the unfamiliar writing, absently sucking on his finger before it was gently tugged out of his mouth and healed with a quick Cura. 

_Dearest Sky,_

_Despite the insistence that I marry some young Southern girl for "political reasons" which are nothing more than, "I want my daughter to control you via bed", I've foisted her off onto a smarter noble than I; they'll likely try to plot my death but I've sent them to be emissaries for Corel..._

Cloud looked it over and then blinked at the date, nearly several months after Ma's beloved had left. 

_How is our Cloud doing? I'm telling you they're going to be upset if they're named Cloud but, knowing you, they'll be named that because I said no to it..._

He sniffled and then looked up at the sight of a handkerchief dangling in front of his face. 

"That sounds like Ma, alright." He blew his nose and offered his own to replace Sephiroth's but it was refused with a soft smile. "Guess the war kept him from us." 

"A slightly more fastidious King, you would have been but still this, still yourself, I'd like to think." Sephiroth replied to his unspoken question. 

"Just how many Kings have you known to answer that?" Cloud quiped as he carefully gathered the letters and tucked them away again. 

"... Enough." 

"Uh-huh." Cloud snorted as he looked wistfully around the office. "Can I have my meetings in here? And maybe a painting of them together?" 

"You've a fair draft hand, give me your Ma and I'll make sure she's ensconced well with your Father; all I need is paint." Sephiroth admitted as he leaned against the desk with an equally wistful look. "I remember well his youth spent arguing with tutors in here." 

"Yeah? You'll have to tell me about it someday when I'm being driven up the castle walls by stupid court intrigue." Cloud remarked as they stood in the sunlight together, dust motes gently changing through a rainbow of color as they floated through the stained glass portions. 

"Hn. It's a deal then, Cloud."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


End file.
